1. Field of the Description
The present description relates, in general, to amusement park rides and vehicles for such rides, and, more particularly, to a vehicle for use in amusement park rides that is adapted to have a selectively positionable (e.g., tiltable and/or pivotal) support frame. In use, a passenger compartment typically will be mounted on the support frame to be positioned in select angular orientations relative to horizontal with the support frame.
2. Relevant Background
In the amusement park industry, there is often a demand for new ride vehicle designs to support a particular ride designer's vision for a new ride and passenger experience. Recently, ride designers have been emphasizing trackless rides where the passenger vehicles are able to move about a ride space in a manner that the ride designer can choreograph to achieve a particular ride experience. Since the vehicle is not riding on a track, the passengers are allowed to believe that the vehicle is “free” to move in a widely varying pattern as it is in fact carefully controlled to follow a particular ride path chosen by the ride designer.
For example, rides have been designed and implemented in which each ride vehicle has a passenger compartment riding on a four-wheeled platform, with two powered, steerable, and/or fixed wheels and with two free-spinning/rotating casters. Such ride vehicles allow the vehicle to quickly rotate or spin about its central axis as the vehicles are moved in a trackless manner through a space. While meeting many of the demands of ride designers, such ride vehicles do not provide the full range of movement of the passenger compartment desired for many new envisioned amusement park rides.
Particularly, ride designers recently have begun to design amusement park rides or attractions that require a vehicle that has the capability of moving in ways to give the passengers a ride experience similar to that found in dancing, ice skating, and similar human or character activities. With this in mind, the challenge for a ride designer is to have a ride vehicle that can be operated to provide the passenger compartment with pitch, roll, yaw, sway, and heave. Further, the ride vehicle should be trackless such that it can have translation in any direction as well as rapid changes in direction, e.g., approximating a 90-degree or sharp cornered turn. Additional ride vehicle demands can further complicate this design challenge including the desired for a “bumper” on the vehicle to mitigate the effects of collisions between the vehicle and other vehicles or ride props/scenery.
Hence, there remains a need for new and improved ride vehicles to provide motion to the passenger compartment that can be accurately implemented and controlled, and it is preferable that these new designs be adapted to provide the passenger compartment with motions that simulate human dancing, ice skating, and the like by moving the passenger compartment with pitch, roll, yaw, sway, and heave.